The teenager S. Mahadevan looks quite frail and vulnerable on stage; yet his credentials are impressive. He was trained by his mother in music from the age of six, and became an artist in AIR Grade for below 16. Mahadevan is at present training with doyen Parassala B. Ponnammal in Kerala.
Mahadevan had the formidable task of dedicating his concert to composers from Kerala . And so, he smartly chose songs in a variety of ragas and rhythms of different composers. He was performing at Sarvani Sangeetha Sabha’s Vaggeyakara Vaibhavam fest.
He started with the pada varnam ‘Amba Gauri’ of Irayaman Tambi in Arabhi, tisra triputa. The stalwart M.D. Ramanathan, who hailed from Palakkad, has composed many songs in Telugu and Sanskrit, and Mahadevan chose ‘Vigna Raja Ninu Chala’ in Sriranjani. He embellished it with a few strand of swaras. Then it was ‘Pahi Nikila Janani’ in Nattai of Irayan Nambi.
Mahadevan sequenced Sama, Kapi and the main Thodi for expansion. In Sama, ‘Narahari Padara Vintham’ (Swati Tirunal) and in Kapi, it was ‘Viharamanasa Naame’ with niraval on ‘Purandarathi Vinuthe’ with swara adjunct. The Thodi alapana was more methodical than inspiring. The kriti was ‘Deva Deva Mampaalaya.’
Mahadevan’s voice has gained masculinity but is yet to acquire musical maturity; it has to develop further to present the nuances and strong and soft phrases of ragas. The presentations sounded more like trained exercises than an extempore improvisation. True. It will come with more practice and concerts. What is important here is Mahadevan shows promise and signs to progress with age, practice and guidance. There were kritis in Sivasakthi (‘Om Saravanabhava’ by Sasikumar) and Kedaragowla (‘Ksheerasagara’) by Shadkala Govindamarar.
S.P. Ananthapadmanabha’s violin carried ample wisdom in projecting the raga images. R. Sankaranarayanan kept his part controlled on mridangam.
The Bangalore BrothersThe compositions of the vaggeyakaras of Karnataka were presented by M.B. Hariharan and S. Ashok, christened as Bangalore Brothers by their guru vidwan H.S. Sudhindra. The duo is undeniably another potentially promising pair to make inroads into the concert platforms.
There are several favourable points to support; both exhibit well trained strong vocal power; they stick to the tradition without any persiflage. They know how to use their voice in impressive levels sans over stress. They give respect for enunciation. Aren’t they good enough?
Starting with an unheard of but melodic Mukhari varnam of Mysore Vasudevachar, the duo moved on to the Nattai kriti, ‘Vandibe Ninake Gananatha’ by Sri Paada Raja, a composer of Haridasa parampara. Colourful swaras were appended to the pallavi. ‘Gururaja Rajana’, a song in praise of Raghavendra by B.K. Padamanaba Rao, a disciple of Mysore Vasudevachar, in Dhanyasi was a soothing piece.
Hariharan explored Kannada for the kriti ‘Aparajithe’ of Muthiah Bhagavathar. His raga essay had free flowing akaras in a delicate but definitive manner and his freewheeling in the upper regions were aesthetically coupled. The swara exchanges between the singers in the end were dynamic.
Saveri occupied centre stage with Ashok essaying the raga emphasising more on the sruti-aligned stretched phrases with perfect resting spaces; even the fast rolling ones were segued to finely etched karvais bringing out the best shades of Saveri.
Mysore Sadashiva Rao’s magnum ‘Sri Kamakoti Peetasthithe’ was a worthy choice. The swara sallies followed had brisk and bright segments concluding with calculated rounds eschewing overkill.
The final part had a composition of Purandaradasa in Anandabhairavi (‘Summane Baruvade Mukti’) and another one item in Vasanthi.
On the violin, B.U. Ganesh Prasad excelled in his replies in the raga and swara passages with his immense experience in accompanying ace and fresh singers. Veterans Trichur V. Narendran on the mridangam and Vaikom Gopalakrishnan on the ghatam provided a full scale exemplary tani avartanam, and supported the duo with care.
